Brilliant idea and don't care if its a money spinner for companies because it won't be my money anymore. At the mo we pay through taxes for these people to be looked after by police or in hospitals. Put them in a special facility and make them pay for the care plus a cheeky wee fixed penalty. Maybe they'll think twice then. Bottom line is we shouldn't need to pay to look after people who drink themselves incapable. Which box do I tick to vote for this?

Good idea in principle, but a lot of detail to be gone into.Are we going to have vans with civvies going around picking drunks up of the street? Does one have to be comatose for selection? Are the staff going to have some basic medical training to deal with the 'clients'? Will they become a focus for public disorder on our streets on weekend nights? Lot of stuff to iron out.

I think the idea is that the police still pick them up for the same reasons as they do now, then instead of them cluttering up cells in police stations or A&E they get taken to the drunk tank. One would assume there would be statutory licensing requirements where the facilities they get dropped off at would need to be able to care for them. All at the cost to the drunk dudes off course.

I can hear the NIMBYs revving up the outrage bus as they won't want to live next door to the facility. This is one of those bright ideas that looks wonderful on paper but proves unworkable in reality.
Is there anywhere else in the world where this is already being successfully operated so we can copy it for I fear by the time H&S have got at it the Drunk Tank will have to resemble the Hilton before miscreants are allowed in for the night.

And if they don't have the £400 for the fine? stop their benefit? more fodder for the loan sharks.

How long will it be running before the first one chokes on there own vomit and the following enquiry to find the least slopey shoulders? If you leave the daft buggers to their own devices its their fault, if you take charge of them you are responsible. How far can you throw G4S?

Is there anywhere else in the world where this is already being successfully operated

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Think the yanks might be operating the idea quite successfully in a few areas. Course their ideas on law and order are often a little harsher than over here. Can't see how objections could be that bad as these people go somewhere now, either on the street, the nick or the hospital. If its secure then what's the problem?

Where did the figure of £400 come from? Can't see it anywhere. Thought it said pay for care plus a fixed penalty. If someone is on benefits how are they finding the money to drink themselves senseless? It might hurt students and weekend binge drinkers but if you don't want to pay it then don't get into that state.

Where did the figure of £400 come from? Can't see it anywhere. Thought it said pay for care plus a fixed penalty. If someone is on benefits how are they finding the money to drink themselves senseless? It might hurt students and weekend binge drinkers but if you don't want to pay it then don't get into that state.

Ah. Ok. That is a bit much then. I'd probably expect top hotel standards for that. To be fair I'm not sure the police mentioned any figures so that might just have been a touch of exaggeration for the sake of clarity on the part of the media. I'd have thought £100 plus fixed penalty might be a nice deterrent.

I reckon it's a pretty terrible idea? They cite students as one of social groups most likely to require resources to detain or treat them, but on the whole even when people get into some right states others will look after them (perks of living with friends and having union staff on hand). How will these people decide who gets declared too drunk anyway? When they have committed criminal doings and so need the po po anyway, or when they release the chunder dragon but could make it home if ordered? I cannot speak for every uni obviously but the one i attended and all that my friends attended had union employed bods to ensure that on the main student nights people got home alright and the dangerously drunk had somewhere safe to go with people sober enough to look after them. They also operated safe spaces which were manned by paramedics but funded by the university, who tended to make the most trouble on a night out, clue it wasnt the students. The binge drinking that statistically occurs is higher in certain areas shall we say, perhaps sorting the issues that cause such behaviour by the dissafected youth would be a better investment in society that would carry on into the future in changing attitudes rather than just keep bandaging the issue up as it happens. Furthermore unless the staff employed by the non government affiliated 'alcohol vigilantes' are sufficiently trained in legalities and manual handling etc (and not the fast track courses or the liscences you can obtain on the quick) then will these people be safe? Self inflicted or not people are at their most vulnerable arguably when off their tits and poorly vetted or trained people will probably lead to costing more in law suits and such. Drinking is one's own responsibility and it is unfair that people have to fork out to pay for it, but in that case should the line be drawn on other issues as well? Robbers chose to go out and rob should we have to pay for a force to crack down on them as that is their choice to rob someone? Be nice to not have to foot the bill i whole heartedly agree, but there are schemes that work effectively in some areas that could perhaps be funded by local pubs and clubs as part of the 'deal' rather than a wide scale scheme such as this which wouldn't translate well everywhere in the country. This just seems like a disaster of some sort but i don't know; something should be done but not this.

So they let the pubs stay open 'till the early hours and the streets are full of drunks, so we need a drunk tank to put them in, using the same logic, if you give everyone a gun and they start shooting each other is the answer to give em all a bullet proof vest

R3, not sure you've got the idea at all. Nobody said you should have vigilantes. The concept is that those who are currently taken off by the boys in blue to a cell or A&E for drunk and disorderly or their own good would still be taken by the self same boys in blue to the dedicated drunk tank. Stops the police having to provide manpower to look after them all night before sending them off with fixed penalty and passes the cost onto the drunk. Win win I think. They'd be applying the same rules by the same people as now just the location of the sobering up and person paying changes.

So they let the pubs stay open 'till the early hours and the streets are full of drunks, so we need a drunk tank to put them in, using the same logic, if you give everyone a gun and they start shooting each other is the answer to give em all a bullet proof vest

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Don't think the police ever wanted 24 hour opening in the first place. It was brought in by our bright spark politicians. This is the police trying to deal with the effects of the policy.

People have to start taking responsibility for themselves and stop relying on the State to deal with their problems. This is a classic example. Drunks who fill police cells or Emergency Department trollies are there simply due to their own lack of control, intentional or otherwise. The fact they find it humorous they ended up in ED is more sad than annoying.

Fining them may make them aware that there is an acceptable limit. It costs about £400 for an ED ward bed per night so that's approximately what the public purse is paying at present.

I suspect many of these people will still end up in ED due to the naturally cautious nature of these things, but I fully support fining people who consciously get into such a state they can't look after themselves.

The most likely problem will be the fact that many of the intended clients will be on benefits and will therefore probably be exempt from the fine.

The more expensive booze gets in the bars, the worse the problem of binge drink seems to get, It was hit on the head earlier in the thread, more and more people are starting on the carry outs before hitting the pubs and clubs.

As for the drunk tanks, if it gets the go ahead, I can see it leading to a reduction in police numbers, they will not need as many to look after the cells of a weekend as the nice G4S people are looking after the drunks.

in a worst case scenario, we will have plod lifting and depositing to the drunk tank those who are at present sent on their way home, as they will no longer need to look after them, or even because they get a backhander from the tanks (not beyond the realms of possibility).